celebrating sweetness in the kitchen and in life

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Hello my lovelies! As you all know, my passion lies in creating and sharing deliciousness with all of you. To this end in mid-October I left my job in finance to spend a year working out how to make a life for myself that involved more of this and is happier and more fulfilling. I gave myself a holiday break before getting out and trying new things and old things and seeing what sticks.

Hello my lovelies! I was experimenting with bits and pieces from the asian supermarket a few weeks ago and came up with these rolls and they are too good not to share. The Karengo in the name is an edible NZ seaweed available in health food shops here that I happened to have on hand. Any dried edible seaweed would be lovely including shredded nori sheets. They have a subtly savoury and nutty flavour and go perfectly with any dinner that needs bread. I had a bit of a ‘mare bringing these to you this week! I’ve been practicing creating recipe videos of different lengths (working my way up to longer ‘tv show’ style episodes eek) and when I was working on these it was a comedy of errors. I was trying to shoot the blog photos at the same time and running back and forth between spots in my kitchen and dining room. My camera battery went flat. My tripod jammed and when I got it moving again a bit fell out that I haven’t been able to find – I am assuming it’s not an important piece… while I was shooting the video the salt stuck in its dish and when I tried to knock it out I spilt salt all over the floor. At this point a cup of tea was required to stave off tears of frustration. Its good for literally everything. And then I took a deep breath and decided to try again the next day.

And here we are with the promise of delicious bread only a few hours away. Filling your house with its comforting scent and your belly with its carby goodness. Hold on to your salt and let’s get started.

Hello my lovelies! This is one of those things where I was mucking around trying to make myself a salty crunchy snack and the result was so genius that I have to share it with you. Sometimes you want something trashy to eat that tastes like nothing found in nature. And sometimes you want something better. Something that tastes like corn chips but better. Something that will impress people that come over. Something that you can feel smug about because it has less fat, salt, colours, and things only identified by numbers. These chips are all those things and more. Sick of chips snapping in half in a dip? No more! You can make these thicker and sturdier to stand up to any dip-related situation.

I don’t know why I never tried it before. They take no time at all to make and are ultra-satisfying. And not in that kinda-guilty way… Flavour these how you like, I have given a couple suggestions along with the recipe. For Kiwis, you can get corn masa at Moore Wilson in Wellington, online at tiopablo.co.nz, labocaloca.co.nz and other specialty food sites. Corn masa is not the same as cornmeal or corn flour. Masa is processed with lime (calcium oxide) and this will be listed in the ingredients, usually as ‘traces of lime’.

Its been a long week and I was in the mood for something to remind me that it’s nearly summer. I’ve also eaten a lot of comfort food and needed something light and fresh. Earthquakes and floods are stressful ok? Nothing says summer like gorgeous tropical fruits, and frozen yoghurt is so easy to throw together. It’s a lighter option than ice cream with less fat and less sugar. Just 5 ingredients and no cooking. Woot! The day after I put this recipe together the weather was amazing for a day (refer exhibit A: the shot above taken the next morning). A sunny day can really lift your spirits.

Because there is a lot of fruit in this delectable frozen confection it has a ‘icier’ texture than an ice cream. It has a sorbet-like quality that is super refreshing on a hot day. Treat yo’self!

It’s hard to believe how much has been packed into the last week. We now have a terrifying US president, and here in a large chunk of New Zealand we have had a very difficult 36 hours. I’m trying to remind myself that it’s still spring.

Prep Time : 20 Minutes | Cook Time : up to 3 Hours | Total Time : up to 4 hours | Difficulty : Easier than you think

Hello my lovelies! Less than six weeks to Christmas – the greatest of all the holidays! I have a wonderful new book on the way from Book Depository – its called Delicious December and it’s all about Dutch Christmas traditions and how they form part of our Christmas celebrations today. And there are recipes! For cookies! I’m sorry grinches but it’s time to think about getting fruitcakes ready if you are going to make your own. To make sure your cakes have time to absorb and develop the true taste of Christmas (liquor) then generally you should start a month out. Spend three weeks feeding your new babies with brandy or rum and then you have a good week to get them iced or decorated as you please! Christmas sanity is all about planning. This recipe is my interpretation of our family classic. I added some spices (natch) and switched up the fruit otherwise it’s generations deep. So long as you keep the total weight of fruit the same, feel free to use whatever you like. I recommend using about half of something simple like currants or sultanas though. This recipe can be baked up in various sized pans and smaller cakes make fab holiday gifts. Because I am the only one in our two person household that eats fruit cake I make the full mix up as 4 small cakes – one for me and the others to give away.

Hello my lovelies! I spent Friday hanging out with my two best gals shopping and eating (the two things we are best at). Because I was thinking about it all week, I had to make this cake for you all. This recipe is a very slightly tweaked version of the family recipe that my friend Kerry gave me when we were teenagers. In its original form it is a denser cake, but I was in the mood for something fluffier. I think cardamom works really well here (as it does everywhere), and it works with the vanilla to give this cake a lovely flavour even though I knocked the sugar back a lot. The cake itself is flavourful but not very sweet as it’s designed to be fully frosted and balances perfectly. I have left the difficulty at easy as it is a simple cake to prepare, the difficulty of the decorating is entirely up to you!